Sunday, May 17, 2015

Germany: Munich

Originally, I intended for this blog post to cover the 460 kilometers I drove today (285 miles). Driving that kind of distance can be dull. It can be painful. It can be tiring. I remember when I was in my early 20's driving down to LA (Disneyland, Long Beach or Orange) was HARD. I would keep myself busy to try and help the time pass, but the only thing you can really do to "keep busy" is eat, drink soda or smoke. Which is what I did. Every half hour, I'd allow myself one thing (a cigarette, snickers, coke) but 1) That's just stupid and 2) See 1. Now that I'm a grown up, I am mentally able to drive for long distances without getting bored or distracted. I don't check my phone, don't smoke at all anymore, don't eat and rarely drink water while driving. I just sort of settle into it. In Germany, in particular, staying focused on traffic is a MUST. Speeds are upwards of 140kph (80mph) in the SLOW LANE. But it varies and can drop down to 60kph in a moment. And if there is an accident 140 can turn into 0 very quickly. For the most part, my drive today (from 9:30am-2:30pm, with breaks for petrol and lunch) was smooth sailing. I loved the German scenery. Forests and farms alternating with the occasional small town view. The roads I took from Dresden to Munich stayed away from towns for nearly the whole trip. Here are some of my views. (Note: I would take my camera in my right hand when traffic was predictable and blindly take photos, not looking at the camera or aiming, keeping my focus on the road. These are the good photos.)

Plenty of space between cars to feel comfortable at high speeds

Look at that color. Gorgeous.

That yellow is a field of two foot tall stems with small yellow flowers on top.

I am convinced that these forests are so plentiful, Europe should thank Germany for its Oxygen.

Getting passed with great speed while I cruise at 140kph (80mph) in the "slow lane"

What the?! In 400m, don't go 80 and get over to the lane where they can't go 50.

These brown signs are very common and seem to say something about what's in the town you're about to pass, or maybe just something cool about Germany.

I tried 4 times to catch this sign. This is the best I got. It was one of those, "My life is awesome" moments where I just happen to be driving through Nurenberg to Munich. What? How did that happen?

More driving. It looked like this for 5 hours people. You try staring at this and not get bored.

Ok, one story about driving and then onto my evening in Munich.It was 1pm and I had 1 hour left according to my handy, dandy GPS. I had already stopped once to get fuel and to use the restroom. I really didn't want to stop again, but I was getting hungry and didn't want to feel weak at any point while pushing through. I opted to stop at a Burger King, but when I pulled off the road to the Autohof (I think the translation here is car courtyard, but basically it's where everybody should stop to eat or pee, etc) the parking lot was FULL of cars and big rig trucks and dudes everywhere, so I just drove through and back onto the highway. There was another stop 500m ahead with a KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, gas station. I knew they'd have parking if they had all that. So, I stopped, parked, stood in line for a burger and onion rings (disappointing), ate and got back on the highway. As you may recall from that last photo, there was "no" traffic. Plenty of space to be going 140kph. Well, now traffic was going about 20kph. Steadily moving, but very slowly. It was strange. But not 1km up the road, the reason presented itself. There was a massive accident where someone ran up the back of someone else. The front end of the car was flattened. Someone had put out flares and road signs (I think all Germans carry this in their cars). Everyone seemed to be out of the damaged cars, standing on the side of the road. I thanked God for the lunch break, saving me from the accident and drove on to Munich.I checked into my super cute hotel. The desk clerk was so helpful and nice. He carried my luggage up to my room and gave me recommendations of where to go to dinner, with extra excitement when talking about the Beer Garden up the street. It's not just a normal Beer Garden, he said, it's the biggest in the world with seating for 8,000. Sold. When dinner time rolled around, I took a 10 minute walk up the street to the Hirschgarten. This is what I saw on my walk and at dinner.

There is a huge palace (Schloss Nymphenburg) up the street from my hotel and this beer garden area used to be the hunting grounds for the residence of the palace. Now they have a special area for deer to live peacefully.

Deer are my favorite animals.

So cute!

Ok, last picture of deer, I promise.

Big Beer Garden. Lots of seating.

The menu for the restaurant

My waiter wore lederhosen! Leather shorts.

Kässpatzen! German noodles, Swiss cheese, fried onions. So good.

Keep Driveway Clear!

Adorable neighborhood

Caution! And exit at a walking pace? Is google translate messing with me?

A bumper sticker I saw that reminded me of the fairy godmother. I don't know what it's for though.

Well, I had a lovely walk, an even better dinner and I bought a chocolate for dessert. And I don't know what's in it. Surprise for me!

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About Me

Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving – Terry Pratchett